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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XXVII
Colfax Township

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Colfax is the only township on the east side of the Des Moines River in Boone County that did not have a native grove of timber within its borders. Its lands were exclusively prairie, the lay of which was beautiful and inviting to the settlers. From August, 1849, to March, 1858, the south one-third of Colfax Township was a part of Pleasant Township, and during the same period the north two-thirds was a part of Boone Township. From 1858 to 1871, Colfax was a part of Worth Township. At the last-named date Colfax Township was organized and its present boundaries established. It was named in honor of Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, who at that time was vice president of the United States. Z. J. Vontrees, one of the three members of the board of supervisors, proposed that it be named Croy Township in honor of Samuel A. Croy, who was the first settler in the northeast part of the township. Mr. Croy was present at the time the board established the township and he refused to have the honor of the name conferred on himself, but as he was an admirer of Mr. Colfax and had an acquaintance with him he insisted that the new township be named Colfax, and from this suggestion it took its place on the countv map under that name. The first settler in Colfax Township was William Francis, who located in the north part of Section 6, Township 83, Range 25, in the spring of 1855. He wsa an Englishman by birth and a ditcher bv trade. The land he located upon is now a part of the Menton Farm. The second settler in the township was Mr. Fitzpatrick, father of Senator Joseph A. Fitzpatrick, of Nevada, Iowa. In the spring of 1855 he erected a house and improved a farm in the west part of Section 20. The next year Thomas Reed and T. A. Duckworth each built a house and commenced the improvement of a farm in pioneer fashion. Mr. Reed's improvement was in the nortliwest part of Section 20 and that of Mr. Duckworth was in the southwest part of Section 5. In 1858 Joseph Tarplee built a house and commenced to make a farm in Section 28. About the same time Samuel A. Croy built a house and made a farm in Section 12. Mr. Croy was a Christian minister and the first one to locate in the township. He moved here from the State of Illinois, anil while living in tliat state, had filled the office of state treasurer. The settlement of the township was not very rapid until the close of the Civil war. In 1866, or about the time the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was built into Boone, the settlement of the township was rapid and continued so until every acre of land was taken up and utilized. It will be impossible to mention all of the settlers and give tlie date at which each one located, nor can the good that each one has done in building up the township be given in detail in a write up of this kind. It will be but sufficient to say that the settlers of Colfax Township were good, energetic and industrious people and they have improved and built up a township which they have good reason to be proud of. The first road in Colfax Township ran diagonally across it from southwest to northeast. This road was made in 1851 by G. B. Zenor, John Zenor and Jesse Hoosong. They cut down a tree at Belle Point and hitched six span of oxen to it and dragged this tree across the prairie from Belle Point to about where the Town of Ontario now stands. This made a trail to travel upon by the people passing from one side of the prairie to the other. It was called the Zenor trail and for a number of years was a much traveled road. But when the township was settled up, this pioneer trail had to give place to the roads upon the section lines. With one exception every section line in the township is now a public highway. There is no township in the county better equipped for roads than Colfax. Among the prominent families who were of the early settlers and who did much in the improvement of the township may be mentioned the Waits, the Bronsons, the Reichenbaughs, the Abrahams, the Luthers, the Mosses and the Gilletts in the southwest part; the Boyds, the Welches and the Yeagers in the central part, and the Judges, the Jordans and the McGraths in the eastern part. Big Creek, which runs across the southwest part of Colfax Township, is the most important stream within its borders. There are some very fine farms along the banks of this creek, which affords drainage facilities for them. A sketch of this creek will be found in an article elsewhere under the heading of The Small Streams ol Boone County. There is another little creek which rises in the northwest corner of Colfax, runs southeast, crossing the county line into Washington Township of Story County, and empties into the Skunk River. It also drains many good farms. There is a scrap of unwritten history connected with Colfax Township which few people have heard. There are still living some of the sons and daughters of the early settlers who located near Pea's Point who have a distinct recollection of the event now for the first time to be recorded. They say that in the spring of 1854 but little of the land in what is now Colfax Township had passed from the Government and that any one could have choice of these lands at $1.25 per acre. About the middle of June of that year, George G. McKinley, a rich farmer of the State of Indiana, sent a man to Boone County, Iowa, to select land on which to make a model farm. He wanted not less than four sections of land situated in a square on which to make this model farm. After spending a week or more looking around, the man selected Sections 7, 8, 17 and 18 as the land on which this model farm was to be made. At the time the land was being looked up for this big farm there were many others coming into the country who were also looking for lands. Some time passed before Mr. McKinleys man reached the land office and when he did, to his great surprise he found that nearly one-half of the four sections of land he had selected had already been entered by other parties. This put an end to all further effort to locate the model farm that Mr. McKinley had in mind. If nothing had prevented the onward movement, a very historic farm would have been made on the four sections named in Colfax Township. This was another one of the times in which a little delay spoiled a great enterprise. For many years Colfax Township had no railroad within its limits. During these years the farmers of the township took their products to such markets as suited them best. But in the years 1904 and 1905 the Newton & Northwest Railroad, commonly called the Interurban Line, was built and from that time has been in operation. It runs almost diagonally through the township and has established two stations within its borders - one in the northwest corner called Ericson, and the other down near the southeast corner called Napier. The station of Ericson has a grain elevator, some corn cribs and a little grain office, and this is all that has developed in the way of a town at that station. It was named in honor of C. J. A. Ericson, who was one of Boone County's most prosperous and historic men. Napier is located on the farm of James Judge, one of the leading farmers and stockmen of the township. The station should have been the deep-toned crowing of the prairie chickens and the doleful song of the sandhill cranes. When they reached the west line of the present Township of Colfax they could see the timber on some tributaries of the Square Fork. It did not seem to be very far away, so they concluded to walk over there. They were on the line one mile south of the line between Jackson and Colfax, as now established, and there was not the sign of a road to travel on. About noon they reached the timber on the other side, about a mile east of the Story County line, both tired and hungry. Here they found a house and a small farm, owned and occupied by a man named Thomas Vest. On making inquiry it was found that not one of the four boys had a cent of money. They made this fact known to Mr. Vest, who assured them that they should have their dinners, money or no money. Mr. Vest was a very social man, and among other things he stated that he was a Kentuckian by birth and that in his boyhood days he was a schoolmate of John C. Breckenridge of that state. The dinner was very good and the boys enjoyed it. When they took their departure they shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Vest, assuring them they would some day pay them for their kindness. The afternoon of that day was very warm and when the boys had arrived at about the center of Colfax Township, east and west on the line above referred to, they came to a very large pond, with high grass around the edges and tall rushes and flags in the center. The boys were now very thirsty and they concluded to wade in to the center of the pond, which was full of water, in order to find enough of it sufficiently clean to wet their throats. Before going half the distance a wonderful plunging, which made a loud noise, commenced among the rushes in the center of the pond, where the water was deepest. At first the boys were much puzzled to know what this could mean, but suddenly there came from among the rushes a dozen deer and they ran with great speed to the west with the two dogs, bellowing to the boys in hot pursuit. As they ran thev made a nice sight to look at, but they soon disappeared over the hill and were never seen by any of the boys again. The dogs did not return home till some time during the night. This herd of deer while passing from one side of the prairie to the other had gone into the water of the pond to cool themselves and drink. How near the dogs were to them at any time during the chase will never be known. But the people of Colfax may know that as many as twelve wild deer in one herd were seen in the borders of their township as late as June, 1854. At that date there was not a house or a .fence or a plowed acre in the township. The only volunteer to enter the army from what is now Colfax Township during the Civil war was John Francis. After the war he became a resident of the State of Illinois.

Source: History of Boone County, Iowa
N. E. Goldthwait, Supervising Editor
Illustrated, Volume I
Chicago, Pioneer Publishing Company
1914

Transcribed by Lynn Diemer-Mathews and uploaded August 15, 2024.

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